URBAN HEALTH

While   aggregrate   global   health   status   has   improved  substantially    in   recent    decades,   this improvement has not been evenly distributed and there  is rising international concern  about  global epidemics  of non-communicable diseases, mental health  problems  and emerging infectious diseases. Urban environments are important determinants of human health.
Cities are now the dominant  human habitat and for the foreseeable  future  most  population growth will be in urban areas. During the next 20-30 years, the UN estimates 2-3 billion more  people need to be housed  in cities- more  than 1 million every  week.  In future, protecting and  promoting health will increasingly  depend  on decisions made  within and about urban systems. While  urbanization has contributed to  overall  declines  in  poverty,.  emerging  challenges  put  the  health   and  wellbeing  of people in cities at risk. Therefore, a better  understanding of the linkages, dynamics  and complexities of urban environments is needed.
 
26-29 September 2017
14th International Conference on Urban Health
As part of our Urban Health Initiative IAP for Health is co-organzing a conference on  Health Equity: The New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals” to be held in Coimbra, Portugal
For more information, visit the conference website here http://www.icuh2017.org
 
6-7 February 2017
The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) recently hosted an “Urban Health in Africa Dialogue” in Cape Town with the support of the Novartis Foundation, the International Society for Urban health (ISUH), the InterAcademy Partnership for Health (IAP for Health), the International Council for Science (ICSU), and the University of Basle.

Jo Boufford, President at The New York Academy of Medicine

Tolu Oni, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town

Roseanne Diab, Executive Officer, ASSAf

Reporting from the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) is available here http://tinyurl.com/lnx8yyp
Download the report from the sponsors, the Norvartis Foundation  Urban Health in Africa Dialogue: Advancing Multidisciplinary Approaches

8 April 2016

Nature has published an article from the programme titled “ICSU promotes a systems approach to urban health and wellbeing
The NATURE  issue is available at: http://www.nature.com/nature/outlook/urban-health/,  the article at: http://www.nature.com/nature/outlook/urban-health/pdf/urban-health2.pdf


24-27 January 2016
Thinking Urban Health

 As part of IAMP’s involvement in the ICSU-IAMP-UNIU Urban Health and Wellbeing programme, IAMP co-chair Lai Meng Looi recently attended an Urban Thinkers campus in Kuching, Malaysia.

See report HERE


24 – 27 May 2015
The  new   ICSU interdisciplinary  programme,  co-sponsored  by  lAMP  and  UNU,  on  Health  and Wellbeing in  the Changing Urban  Environment:  a Systems Analysis Approach  has  taken  up  that challenge   and   launched   a  decade-long   effort  whose   vision   is  “…to  generate    policy-relevant knowledge that  will improve  health  status, reduce  health  inequalities  and enhance  the wellbeing of populations living in urban environments-which are undergoing continual change”. 
 
The 12th International Conference on Urban Health was held on May 24-27,2015 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and it attracted over 700 participants from over 60 countries.

 The conference theme was “Urban Health for a Sustainable Future: The Post 2015 Development Agenda” and it brought together interdisciplinary academic experts, program leaders, and policy makers from multiple sectors through 7 Plenaries and 31 breakout sessions, including a special track on reproductive health and family  planning hosted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The “Dhaka Statement on Urban Health in Sustainable Development” was finalized at the conference, ratified by participants and intended for sharing as an evidence-based advocacy tool to prioritize a focus on urban health and on the concerns of urban populations in the SDG negotiations and other stainable development initiatives at the United Nations. 

Visit the conference website where you can find photographs and select presentations: www.icuh2015.org


8 – 10 December 2014